To the victor go the spoils

First things first. Both spells looked compelling. Both were great upgrades to the lowly magic he had used for as long as he could remember. He wanted both, but the system would only allow one. The idea of the explosion was compelling. Taking out entire groups of enemies. Ending fights before they even began. But he also sensed a danger. Nothing in the description said that it couldn’t also effect his allies or even himself. The thought of releasing the spell at point blank range and blowing himself into small pieces gave him pause.

The chain didn’t sound nearly as powerful; however, it did sound quite useful. The ability to attack, and possibly stun, a group of foes opened a wide range of new possibilities.

Baal’s hand hovered over both menus for a moment before he finally made his selection

Dark Energy Chain activated!

As soon as the slime had calmed down from its tantrum, and he had come down from his own adrenaline high and remembered to fix his own pants, Baal grabbed the bag left behind by dead adventurer

First were more coins, not that he had much use for the currency. A few healing potions remained as well, lucky that she hadn’t been able to use those. But the real prizes were the two unidentified objects the elf had left behind.

Spell Scroll - ???

Great Druid’s Staff - ???

The orc gathered the loot left on the altar and made his way back to the staircases with the slime following behind. Bunny and Feathers had remained on the terraced levels ringing the altar. From the disheveled appearance of her clothes it wasn’t hard to guess what Bunny had been doing with herself as she watched the orc and adventurer. Feathers did her best to keep a disinterested appearance though her flushed cheeks hinted at her own inner struggle.

The plant traps on the entrance level had vanished along with the caster. Only the debris of the broken gate and three loot bags from the invading adventurers left any indication of the life and **** struggle that had just occurred there.

The first bag gave even more coins. A rather hefty amount even in Baal’s uneducated opinion. Some raw materials, probably picked up on the way to his dungeon. And more unidentified objects.

Barbed Arrows (x83) - ???

Heroic Mercenary’s Pants - ???

The second bag opened to reveal one last hoard of coinage. At this rate he may need a vault soon!

More important to the orc were the food items in this bag, several cuts of meat and bundles of plants. Those would be put to good use immediately.

Hiker’s Belt - ???

The orc approached the final bag curiously. He had looted the elf on the altar. The other two adventurers had left behind bags as well when they vanished. So what had left this bag?

Dire Bear’s Pelt - ???

Ah. Seeing as how the bear was the strongest of the enemies, it made sense that it would also leave something behind. Though he recalled something about a trophy from the system messages as well. There were always more questions than answers.

The orc would need to identify the items before properly using them, but right now the dungeon came first. Repairing the portcullis would be the builder’s first responsibility. It obviously wasn’t a perfect guard against all intruders but it had kept out the pair initially. After the repair would come reinforcement. He had enough resources, and more than enough fame points now to grow, the question was the minion's status. A liegelord without minions was no lord after all.

He moved to the bottom level where the goblins had gathered next to the water elemental. Even the old man and Ash had reappeared from their hiding spot. The Lilypet was just finishing treatment of the big goblin, closing the many wounds that covered him, though it did leave some impressive scars on the goblin’s green striped skin. The elemental had already done what it could for the other goblins, though two were lost causes, dead long before they were carried to the pool.

The gathered goblins looked to him hopefully. The orc has raised the slime, surely their boss could perform another miracle. He did consider it. The soul stones had repaired Suo, and he had turned a suit of armor into a guarding automaton, but there were still many unknowns. Goblins were bad enough, did he really want a dungeon full of goblin undead lurching about, breaking his things, and dripping on the carpet? Did they even have souls?

The bigger problem was revealed once he realized which two goblins had died. Which in this case happened to be both of his builders. Of course he still had the earth elementals but the need to expand was ever present.

If they had been out in the forest, the minion corpses would have already turned into their own loot bags. As it was, whatever magic helped govern the dungeon was prolonging the transformation, but he likely still didn’t have long to make up his mind.

Baal pulled a soul stone from his inventory. The priceless artifact gleamed in the pale dungeon light as he bought himself precious seconds trying to figure out how to use it. There was no core to fix like the slime. The armor had been as easy as using the enchanting table. He brought the tiny gem down to the dead goblin’s chest.

Cast Resurrection?
x1 soul stone

Baal tapped accept and a streak of brilliant light suddenly beamed down from the ceiling to the goblin’s body. A pale goblinoid shape floated down along the shaft until it came to rest inside the body.

“Boss?” The formerly dead goblin squawked as it rubbed its eyes.

The other goblins erupted in cheers as he spent another of the legendary class items to bring back one of the lowliest of monsters. As ecstatic as the minions were , the orc was more intrigued how a dark magician like himself was even able to use such holy magic. Being able to resurrect dead minions was a nice trick, but it just made him think about what other uses the soul stones could have.

For now though that would have to wait. There was much to do in the dungeon today.

The builders did not receive much of a break despite their traumatic experience. Fixing the destroyed gate took priority. The two earth elements had nearly completed the training grounds upgrade, which was good on its own, but more so because he didn’t want to send the other minions out foraging in case the adventurers returned. Instead he had the goblins wait for the upgrade to finish in order to further train, and orders for the golems to standby once their work was done as well

In the interim, he made his way to the workshop to identify his latest loot.

Hiker’s Belt - Rare
Expands user’s inventory. Grants six additional quick inventory slots.
Quick Inventory (expanded)
Allows instantaneous weapon swapping or item usage. Items that would normally require a charge time instead require 2x MP, Stamina, etc to use.

Gods no wonder adventurers were able to use potions so freely! Damn cheaters! Of course, now he could as well as he quickly equipped the belt with its many little pouches.

Barbed Arrows (x83) - uncommon
An upgraded arrow head. 50% probability to cause bleeding status effect.

Good thing he had had his armor spell up and not gotten hit by those. They’d probably be even more useful when shot by one of the flaming bows. And maybe the smith could recreate the design...

Heroic Mercenary’s Pants - Rare
Requires 25 Dexterity and 25 Stamina to equip. Excellent quality armor of a famed mercenary unit that never lost a battle.
+7 Defense
+2 Magic Defense
15% resistance to piercing damage
15% resistance to slashing damage
15% resistance to smashing damage
Set Bonus 1 of 5
???
???
???

His worn and ratty pants were quickly replaced by the new item. The pants were black except for the metallic pieces riveted on to the hips and around his kneecaps. The improved defense was good enough in its own, but he had to admit it felt good to finally be rid of his pauper clothing. The new pants also did a slightly better job of bringing together his improvised outfit, matching the black trim on his purple tunic and the speckled pattern on his overcoat.

Dire Bear’s Pelt - Rare
Dark brown fur of the strongest beast of the forest. Rare resource for crafting. Grants both piercing and slashing damage reduction.

Great Druid’s Staff - Rare
A staff made from the heart of an ancient tree and only awarded to true friends of the forest.
+10(20) Magic Attack (Nature Magic Attack)
Adds an additional companion slot
Vine Whip
Vine Whip (spell) (expanded)
Level 1 nature spell. Creates a long thorny whip freely wielded by the caster. Damage is (Intelligence + Dexterity)/3

It was arguably a better staff. As far as he knew the companion feature was meaningless to him, but it did have a greater attack and a new spell. He’d loose the bonus quick casting from his current staff, but his new war caster feat could balance that out. Assuming of course he could even use the staff to begin with. Still, the system had allowed his dark aligned self to use the soul stones, why not a nature lover’s staff as well?

He picked up the twisted piece of wood. It did look similar to the walnut staff of wind he had crafted, a long spiraling wooden shaft; however, where the wind staff was a group of smooth branches that ended in a wooden cage cradling the jewel, the nature staff was a single long branch covered in rough bark and ended in a worn knob with a single green leaf hanging off.

Baal turned towards the door to give himself the maximum amount of space in the room and swung out the staff. The leaf morphed as the stick swished through the air, turning into a long green tendril with a plethora of tiny sharp thorns. The vine whip made a loud snapping noise as it cracked through the air and then disappeared back into unassuming leaf.

Interesting.

The last piece up was the strange rolled up piece of paper that had dropped from the elf. A magic spell scroll. The only time he had ever seen such a thing was in the hands of an adventurer right before it erupted into flames or electricity or whatever magic they deemed to use to kill him for their perverse entertainment. Now, finally, he held one in his own hands.

Scroll of Taming - Uncommon
A piece of parchment imbued with the Tame spell. Success rate is variable and depends on both the caster’s and target’s willpower, stamina, health, and status condition.
-note- Even with explicit content enabled, this spell is only applicable to non sentient creatures.

How disappointing. It wasn’t what he was hoping for, he had expected something more powerful. Not that the spell wouldn’t have its uses. Clearly the elf had some means of controlling the beasts that had followed her. The last sentence was also puzzling. What was explicit content? Why did it sound so familiar? He shook his head and examined the new pop up in front of him.

Scroll of Taming - Uncommon
A piece of parchment imbued with the Tame spell. Success rate is variable and depends on both the caster’s and target’s willpower, stamina, health, and status condition.
-note- Even with explicit content enabled, this spell is only applicable to non sentient creatures.

A bit disappointing. It wasn’t what he was hoping for, though he wasn’t sure what exactly he had been expecting. Clearly the elf had some means of controlling the beasts that had followed her. The last sentence was also puzzling. What was explicit content? Why did it sound vaguely familiar? There was a pain in his head. He shook his head to clear it and examined the new pop up in front of him.

Scroll of Taming - Uncommon
A piece of parchment imbued with the Tame spell. Success rate is variable and depends on both the caster’s and target’s willpower, stamina, health, and status condition.
-note- Even with explicit content enabled, this spell is only applicable to non sentient creatures.

It wasn’t what he was hoping for, but somehow it was about what he had expected. Clearly the elf had some means of controlling the beasts that had followed her. The last sentence was also puzzling. Just some gibberish he guessed. He had gotten used to ignoring such nonsense with so many goblins running about. Besides it was giving him a headache just thinking about it.

He idly dismissed the item windows. He was already thinking about his next tasks. However, he was suddenly interrupted by a new message.

New Feat!
Even with no ability, you have still somehow appraised over fifty unique items in the world.
Reward:
Lesser God’s Eye
Grants the passive ability to identify information by looking at a thing. Information displayed depends on user’s Wisdom and object’s level.

That. Was. Incredible. The orc cast around for something to look at using the new ability.

“Suo?” The slime asked from underneath the table.

Suo, Level 13 Dark Slime
Monster, Slime, Explicit
Experience to level up - 624
Attributes:
Strength 13 (+10)
Dexterity 36 (+10)
Stamina 21 (+10)
Charisma 7 (+10)
Intelligence 12 (+10)
Wisdom 19 (+10)
Feats:
Physical Damage Reduction - Racial trait. A slime's fluid body negates 50% physical damage.
Absorption - restore $’\ HP ##4!by consum^¥2€~|}^%
$)9?
...
..
.
Liege Empowered (Combat) – Gain one time experience as if you had defeated your liege in combat. Gain a passive buff to your Attributes equal to half your Liege's Level (rounded down). Gain a Skill, Feat, or Spell based on your Liege’s abilities.
Spells:
Drain Touch - {Liegelord spell} - Magic attack that requires caster to physically contact the target. Base damage is calculated using intelligence not strength though dexterity still counts for chance to hit. A portion of damage is returned to the caster as HP and MP.
Stoneskin - spell that covers flesh with an armor of stone. Increases all physical defense. Decreases movement and attack speed. Costs constant MP to maintain.
??? - 1/1000

The slime had leveled up nicely from the fight. Though he wondered if he was able to see so much of its details because his own high level and wisdom, or because he was examining his own loyal minion. Still something about reading the status made his head throb again.

Enough of that.

He considered using the new bear skin immediately on the crafting bench. But a new plan had formed that made him wait. If the arena did better after upgrading, wouldn’t the same hold true for the crafting rooms?

Currently the split at the end of the item hallway was still pending construction, as were two of the expansions to the store room. On the opposite end of this level, the third barracks room, the armory, and the second small set of stairs were all waiting to be built. He also needed to check his build options once again. There were already some interesting options even before he had leveled up. The question was just where was the best return for spending his limited resources.

He moved back out to the spire room. The golems had finally finished the training arena upgrade, so most of his minions were now gathered with the exception of the two goblins standing watch, the two builders fixing the gate, and the water elemental in the pool below. His followers watched him, waiting for their next orders.

There were so many things to do, it was almost overwhelming. The orc resorted to the trick of playing with menus to buy himself a bit of time. He was sitting on a pile of fame now, over seven hundred points. Given that he had more than enough points, he might as well round out his collection of elementals.

Fifty points of fame were spent but there was no great change in the dungeon. The floor didn’t split. The air didn’t turn inside out. He rechecked his menu to confirm that he had in fact bought the creature. It was only then he noticed the tiny addition floating next to his hand. The flickering flame was tiny, like the struck head of a match or a...

Candle Sprite
A Lesser Fire Elemental, the weakest form of an elemental. It is tied to the magical energy of the place it was born and cannot leave. It is minimally intelligent and somewhat territorial.
Level N/A Candle Sprite
Elemental , Non Explicit
Experience to Level Up - N/A - An elemental’s level is tied to its form and strength of place of birth.
Attributes:
Strength 22
Dexterity 18
Stamina 10
Charisma 4
Intelligence 13
Wisdom 12
Skill:
Feats:
Destruction and Creation - Increases smith crafting speed for all allies. Increased chance of producing higher grade items via smithing. Increases item recovery rate from deconstruction. All attacks are Fire attribute and cannot learn other attributes.
Unending Endurance - Stamina refills faster during rest. Stamina decreases slower during exertion. As long as the connection remains to its source of power, stamina never decreases.
Spells:
Ignite - Magic attack that requires the faster to physically contact the target. 75% chance to cause minor burn status effect.
Light - Illuminates a 3 meter radius around the target.

For being the last of the elemental summons, it was somehow underwhelming. Though at least his new skill was saving him from having to walk back and forth to the appraisal table. The tiny flame was flickering as it rested on his hand, as if the subtle drafts of the dungeon were threatening to extinguish it. For a moment he considered flicking it into the waterfall to see what would happen, but he decided against it. The thing had cost him fame points, and as of yet each of the elements had proven useful somehow.

Since he was spending fame anyway, he might as well go all in. The upgrade package for the elementals was only another fifty points apiece. With five elementals it meant just two hundred and fifty additional points spent. First was the bit of fire clinging to him.

Candle Sprite is attempting to evolve into Firefey

Firefey
A Minor Fire Elemental, a weak form of an elemental. It is tied to the magical energy of the place it was born and cannot leave. It is somewhat intelligent and somewhat territorial.
Level N/A Firefey
Elemental , Non Explicit
Experience to Level Up - N/A - An elemental’s level is tied to its form and strength of place of birth.
Attributes:
Strength 30
Dexterity 22
Stamina 12
Charisma 7
Intelligence 15
Wisdom 15
Skill:
Smithing Rank E
Feats:
Destruction and Creation - Increases smith crafting speed for all allies. Increased chance of producing higher grade items via smithing. Increases item recovery rate from deconstruction. All attacks are Fire attribute and cannot learn other attributes.
Unending Endurance - Stamina refills faster during rest. Stamina decreases slower during exertion. As long as the connection remains to its source of power, stamina never decreases.
Spells:
Fireball - a simple Fire Attribute projectile orb of magical energy. Variable damage based off caster’s intelligence and amount of MP used to charge. Dissipates after 10 meters.
Ignite - Magic attack that requires the faster to physically contact the target. 75% chance to cause minor burn status effect.
Light - Illuminates a 3 meter radius around the target.

Fifty points had made a world of difference for the tiny flame. it’s stats and skills had increased to much more useful levels, but it’s physical appearance has also changed. The little tuft of Fire had grown and expanded into a more humanoid, if still tiny, appearance. It was now about six inches tall. It had no real legs, just a torso that tapered into a tail like appendage of fire. The torso and arms stood out as distinct noticeable features, but the head, face, and wings on its back were just more wisps of flame.

The next upgrade went to the Bee that was buzzing around trying to take stock of its newest sibling

BubbleBee is attempting to evolve into ButterBreeze

Oh gods who came up with these names?!

ButterBreeze
A Minor Air Elemental, a weak form of an elemental. It is tied to the magical energy of the place it was born and cannot leave. It is somewhat intelligent and very playful.
Level N/A ButterBreeze
Elemental , Non Explicit
Experience to Level Up - N/A - An elemental’s level is tied to its form and strength of place of birth.
Attributes:
Strength 8
Dexterity 34
Stamina 18
Charisma 8
Intelligence 18
Wisdom 15
Skill:
Feats:
Child of the Air - A bonus for the whimsical and impulsive who epitomize “work hard and play harder”. Increases speed of any action that requires a progress bar for all members of the same faction. All attacks are Wind attribute and cannot learn other attributes.
Unending Endurance - Stamina refills faster during rest. Stamina decreases slower during exertion. As long as the connection remains to its source of power, stamina never decreases.
Spells:
Dazzle - Requires uninterrupted line of sight to the target. 75% chance to cause minor stun status effect.
Lesser Haste - Minor boost to target’s Attack and movement speed for (intelligence x 2) seconds.

The air elemental’s change was somewhat less drastic than its fellow. It’s overall size remained roughly the same, however, the links of bubbles that made up its body had shrunk down considerably and the majority of its body were now the large rounded thin gossamer wings that unfurled from its back. As delicate as the thing appeared, it hadn’t lost any of its pep. The air elemental tested its new form, even though it barely flapped its new wings, it quickly flew up and out of the level. If anything it was even faster than before.

Baal let the air elemental go as he moved to the twin earth elementals. The one on the left, his first follower and creation, was slightly fidgeting, bouncing on its short stubby legs as it tapped the chain of dirt and small stones that made its arms together. The second elemental stood impassively in place, as though it was uninterested in the goings on.

Dust Golem is attempting to evolve into Pebble Person

There was no doubting it now, someone or something out there had even worse naming sense than the orc.

Pebble Person
A Minor Earth Elemental, a weak form of an elemental. It is tied to the magical energy of the place it was born and cannot leave. It is somewhat intelligent and enjoys working and being useful.
Level N/A Pebble Person
Elemental , Non Explicit
Experience to Level Up - N/A - An elemental’s level is tied to its form and strength of place of birth.
Attributes:
Strength 40
Dexterity 12
Stamina 33
Charisma 5
Intelligence 17
Wisdom 16
Skill:
Combat:
Bare Handed Fighting - Rank E
Crafting:
Stoneworking - Rank E
Field:
Mining - Rank E
Feats:
Child of the Earth - Can construct natural caves at no cost. Increases construction speed for all allies. Increased chance of discovering rare resources from mine resource nodes. All attacks are Earth attribute and cannot learn other attributes.
Unending Endurance - Stamina refills faster during rest. Stamina decreases slower during exertion. As long as the connection remains to its source of power, stamina never decreases.

The twin earth elementals rumbled as they grew leaner and taller. They might be named person, but they were only about 4 feet tall now. They were bigger than the average goblin but they more resembled a human child than a proper adventurer. Their bodies were still a mass of sand and stones, but the form was more defined. Some of the stones appeared almost sculpted to more resemble human anatomy, though they were clearly meant to be androgynous and lacking any defining characteristics.

The first golem seamed happy enough with the change as it examined its new form excitedly. The other remained standing soberly.

“You go back to cave building,” Baal ordered the impassive second golem before turning to the first, “and you wait up here.”

As the golem moved back down stairs, Baal was pleased to see their worst characteristic had been somewhat nullified. Whether it was the increased stats or the fact that they actually now had long legs and knees rather than little nubs; the elemental now moved at a decent pace. It wouldn’t outrun anything else in the dungeon, but at least it wasn’t painful to watch move any longer.

Baal moved with the minions into the newly renovated training arena. The room had expanded a bit. It was still a large, two story circle. The sandy center still held an assortment of training dummies and was ringed by stone steps. However in addition to having a larger floor, the stage was now ringed in places by a low half wall separating the sand from the stone. Additionally, the flat stone walkway that once ran along the outside wall now separated a new section of stone steps. The tables and benches that had been placed rather haphazardly before were also now aligned in a more even pattern and given a more craftsman polish.

The orc touched the keystone

Training options
Combat training:
Bare handed fighting - Rank F
Dagger fighting - Rank F
Short sword fighting - Rank F
Spear fighting - Rank F
Hand Ax fighting - Rank F
Staff fighting - Rank F
Throwing weapon marksmanship - Rank F
Short bow marksmanship - Rank F
Small Shield mastery - Rank F
Current experience bonus:
40%

Twenty points each were paid to upgrade the available combat regimes to the E rank. However, even with his spending spree he still retained two hundred and twenty eight of the valuable points. He tried upgrading the ranks of his own combat interests even higher but was unsurprised by the familiar pop up.

Error insufficient combat arena room level

One last thing he wanted to check in the room. The orc used his new staff to fire a magic blast into the nearest training dummy. Rather than the small black orb he had been familiar with for his entire life, a black bolt of energy shot out of the staff. It was fast, reaching the inanimate target in the blink of an eye, then bursting into multiple arcs branching off to hit the other nearest dummies. It was hard to judge the destructive power from the simple demonstration, but the difference in speed alone made him happy for the choice. Sadly however, there was no pop up for new experience points. It seemed he was still too strong to take advantage of that system again. But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t work for the minions.

“Train!” He ordered gruffly.

Checking his remaining fame, he hesitated. There was still plenty to spend, and he had learned better than to hoard what could prove to give him an edge, but he wasn’t sure what to spend his points on. He could empower his minions. The goblins had held up surprisingly well even with the odds against them. And even if they did die, it wasn’t like he couldn’t resurrect them to recoup his investment. Likewise he could upgrade his own skills. Liegelord and Minion Link were both expensive, if somewhat mysterious, abilities. And for once he had the points to spare.

He spent the one hundred points required to upgrade Minion Link to level two. The was no fanfare. No great change that he could sense. He moved tabs over to Map feature the skill had first unlocked. The little dots representing his minions were still decorating the black void of the map. However, each of them now had a nice little nameplate hovering next to them. Great. A hundred points spent just to provide information he could have already guessed. Idly, he tapped on the first dot that caught his attention.

Feathers, Level 14 Goblin Barbarian
Monster, Goblin, Explicit
Experience to Level Up: 1127
Attributes:
Strength 32
Dexterity 31 (+5)
Endurance 24
Charisma 15
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 16
Skills:
Hand Ax fighting - Rank F
Feats:
Barbarian Rage - Barbarians are likely to fall into an uncontrollable frenzy while fighting, increasing damage while decreasing chance to hit as well as environmental awareness. May lead to damage to allies if Friendly Fire is enabled.
Goblin Cunning - Racial Trait. Goblins are opportunistic scavengers and crafty, if simplistic, builders. Increased chance to find additional items while looting corpses or containers. Decreases time for trap crafting or placement. Decreases time for item crafting.

in addition to the stats it had also shown full health and stamina bars for the barbarian. Maybe it wasn’t a complete waste of points, but the skill did look like it was meant for looking after a greater army than his meager forces. Oh well, what was done was done. No use crying over spent fame points. He may not have much use for it at the moment but there was no such thing as a useless skill.

Baal motioned for the sheepish earth elemental to follow him as he moved back to the crafting area. The doors on the left were the magic workshop, the item workshop, the trap workshop, and the unassigned space. He went to each workshop door and moved through the dungeon menu to upgrade the rooms.

The resource cost wasn’t cheap, and it also cost him more of his hard earned coins, but the possibility of crafting better items was too tempting to pass up. The building was also enough of a priority to use the better constructing elemental. He certainly didn’t want to be without the use of these rooms for long. Baal put the lump of rocks to work with orders to stand by once it had completed the construction on this side. With the construction in progress, the orc flipped through the other construction options available to him.

His eyes fell on a new room. It was expensive though. A quick mental inventory told him he probably lacked the materials to finish it at this time. Still, he wanted it.

The orc walked back to the spire room. The hallway opposite the crafting area lead to the minion area. The as yet incomplete armory wrapped from the minion area hallway and took the open spot on the spire next to the hall entrance. Should he place the new room on the far end of that hallway, next to the eatery? Or should he put it on the end of the crafting hallway on the still blank spot or the unfinished intersection beyond. So far he had attempted to segregate the dungeon design by function. However, this new room didn’t fit neatly into either category. If anything it was more like the arena on the other wall.

Baal felt like he was wasting too much time overthinking this. There was plenty of room for the dungeon to expand into the mountain. He moved to one of the empty spots on the spire wall between the minion area and the arena. First he selected a long hallway to lead out from the central spire, then at its end he placed the blueprint. The room was large, bigger than the crafting areas or the cantina, but still smaller than the giant spire rooms or the arena. For now he would have to leave it as a blueprint.

Baal started to move down a level to check in his last elemental when something else caught his eye. The flame on the wall sconce closest to him looked slightly different. As he looked closer at the fire, he quickly realized why. The new FireFey elemental was sitting in the flames, watching him.

“What? Are you cold?” The Orc asked, not really expecting an answer

The flame elemental flickered slightly as it’s body shook in what he took as a negative.

“Keeping watch then?” He corrected himself.

The flame expanded proudly.

“I see... Keep up the good work,” Baal praised the puff of fire as he walked away. It had given him yet another idea.

The water elemental was easy enough to spot by the lily pad like shape floating on top of the pool.

Lilypet is attempting to evolve into SprayBelle

The orc ignored the bizarre name. It didn’t matter. He didn’t care.

SprayBelle
A Minor Water Elemental, a weak form of an elemental. It is tied to the magical energy of the place it was born and cannot leave. It is somewhat intelligent and somewhat timid unless disturbed.
Level N/A SprayBelle
Elemental , Non Explicit
Experience to Level Up - N/A - An elemental’s level is tied to its form and strength of place of birth.
Attributes:
Strength 22
Dexterity 38
Stamina 13
Charisma 10
Intelligence 24
Wisdom 27
Skill:
Alchemy - Rank E
Feats:
Still Waters Run Deep - Increases alchemy crafting speed for all allies. Increased chance of producing higher grade items via alchemy. All attacks are Water attribute and cannot learn other attributes.
Unending Endurance - Stamina refills faster during rest. Stamina decreases slower during exertion. As long as the connection remains to its source of power, stamina never decreases.
Spells:
Restoring Dew - A fine mist that acts like a minor healing spell.
Water Bullet - a simple Water Attribute projectile orb of magical energy. Variable damage based off caster’s intelligence and amount of MP used to charge. Dissipates after 10 meters.

The water elemental surged as it grew. Like the earth elementals before it, it now stood approximately four foot tall. The long flowing gown of water that made up its body and its graceful limbs remained much the same, though its proportions took on a more humanoid appearance. The previously featureless blob at its head now had the hints of a nose lips and cheeks, though they shined and changed like water running over smooth stone. Its wide brimmed headwear shrank from an over sized lily pad, to a neatly kept bonnet; though it still resembled a leaf curled around a water lily flower.

With the exception of the support type air elemental, each of them had also gained combat abilities. He wondered if that was natural for elementals or if it was a quirk if being born from his dungeon. In any case it could help the next time they came under attack.

Baal left the pool behind and climbed the spire up to the entrance level. The builders were already hard at work mending the broken portcullis. Unfortunately all they had to work with was the weak scrap metal. Maybe he could upgrade the gate if he gathered enough bronze pieces. Or something else. Still, the rusted and twisted metal gate had proven better than nothing.

He remembered an earlier thought and opened the construction menus once more as he examined the entrance. The hallway connecting the outer door and inner gate was short. The guard room above peaked down through the three **** holes. There were several pressure plate traps which had been disarmed by the last adventurers. But most importantly, there were still three vacant spots on each side of the entrance hallway, waiting further construction.

The cost of the tiny nooks was negligible. Just a bit of stone. He selected two new alcoves and placed them opposite one another in the center of the hall. Next he moved his attention out to the two story spire level. The gate took up one spot. The twin spiraling staircases each blocked a spot on the ground and top floors where they landed. And of course the living armor already occupied a nook next to the gate. That left eight additional build locations waiting to be filled on the ground floor, and nine on the second floor due to the guard room window slits blocking the spot above the door. Each of these spots were quickly filled with more of the shallow nooks. Though how exactly to reach the pending construction for the spots along the second floor was a problem he left for another day. The builders were nearly complete with their repairs to the gate so he ordered them to follow him upstairs once they were finished and climbed to the altar room.

A new unique item had been gifted to him. Surely there had to be some price to pay for these incredible relics, but whatever it was, he would gladly pay it. The altar was a gift that kept giving as long as he made sacrifices. Now he wanted to see what the throne could do. But first, where to put it?

The top floor made the most sense. There was the altar and its waterfall, which already had something of a viewing area surrounding it. As well as his own private chambers. He could carve out a new room opposite his own. But it didn’t feel right placing the throne opposite the altar. The path leading to the altar also lead to his rooms after all.

He checked the blueprints. It might not even be possible to change what was already there, but the best course seemed to be...

He selected a long, extra wide hallway, and inserted it between the altar room and his suite. The end connecting to the large circular altar room would be completely open, no narrow columns or arches would obstruct his view. Even the walls were angled and curved so that rather than an exclamation point, the room would be one large tear drop design. Only at the far end of the new addition would there be a door leading to his private rooms. The orc chose the design and even paid a higher price in material and coins for a more polished look. If he was going to have a throne, he wanted a regal room to match.

The orc sat on the stone steps of the altar room as he considered his next steps. His own room was now inaccessible until this construction was complete, and he was running a deficit of materials. Not only that, but the lack of minion power was becoming concerning. Goblin tribes would grow to fill their quota in the wild. Even his own daughter had been born. But once the goblins had joined him, no further children had been born inside the dungeon. Perhaps it was a bit of a blessing. He certainly wasn’t interested in being the father of a whole brood of goblins. But he also had more than enough vacant spots for new minions.

As much as he hated to admit it, the next step seemed clear.